Personal-servicing communication system

ABSTRACT

A communication system offering specific services to specific persons bears a portable memory device with a record of personal information such as the bearer&#39;s identification number, class of service, personal data, etc. In making a call, the bearer of the memory device puts it on a communication terminal device and the terminal device reads out the personal information, which is transferred to a data processor such as a central processor in the exchange so that a service specific to the calling person is rendered.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 908,181,filed Jul. 1, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,440,625, issued Aug. 8, 1995,which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 557,750, filed Jul. 26,1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,153,906, issued Oct. 6, 1992, which is acontinuation of application Ser. No. 173,673, filed Mar. 25, 1988, nowU.S. Pat. No. 4,961,217, issued Oct. 2, 1990, which is a continuation ofapplication of application Ser. No. 669,797, filed Nov. 9, 1984, nowU.S. Pat. No. 4,759,056, issued Jul. 19, 1988.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a personal-servicing communicationsystem intended to render individual person oriented services, that aredemanded in the ever advancing communication servicing field, ratherthan terminal device oriented services.

As for the telephone system, there have been established modified formsof servicing dealing with individual telephone instruments, such as seenin a private telephone system with classes of service for the connectionto the public networks. In such, a system, when a person uses atelephone instrument which belongs to another person, only a serviceclassified for that telephone instrument is granted, and therefore it isa device oriented service rather than a person oriented service.Telephone fees are also charged to each telephone instrument, and not tothe individual person.

The abbreviated dialling and automatic dialling services are currentlyassigned to specific telephone instruments, although the purpose ofthese services is personally oriented.

Furthermore, the conventional communication systems are based on astation-to-station concept. In the telephone system, for example,displaying the calling party's telephone number is practiced tentativelyin some areas, but this system solely displays on the called telephoneinstrument a number assigned to the calling telephone instrument.However, any telephone instrument is not necessarily used by a specificperson, and therefore the displayed number does not uniquely identifythe calling person.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a personal-servicingcommunication system wherein a person using the system carries aportable memory device in which personal information is stored, and inoperation the person sets the memory device on an unspecifiedcommunication terminal device, which reads the personal information onthe memory device and renders the personally available service.

Another object of the invention is to provide a personal-servicingtelephone system wherein a person using the system carries a portablememory device in which personal information is stored, and in operationthe person sets the memory device on an unspecified automatic diallingunit or telephone instrument, which reads the personal information onthe memory device and allows the person to make a call by automaticdialling or abbreviated dialling.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a telephone systemin which a called party is informed of the name of a calling person,instead of the directory number of a terminal device such as a numberassigned to the telephone instrument.

In order to achieve the foregoing objectives, the inventivepersonal-servicing communication system comprises a portable memorydevice, such as a punched card, magnetic card, electronic memory card,optical memory card, handheld computer, and the like, to be carried bythe user whose personal information, such as the personal identificationnumber, class of service, personal data, personal program, and so on, isrecorded on the memory device, a communication terminal device whichreads the personal information recorded on the memory device when it isset by the bearer of the device, and an exchange facility which allowsthe calling person to be connected to a communication controller, database or data processor in the communication network so as to render apersonally available service defined in the personal informationretrieved from the portable memory device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be further described in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the telephone terminal device embodyingthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal arrangement of thetelephone terminal device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the time division private exchangeembodying the present invention;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are flowcharts explaining the operation of the system indealing with the class of service for trunk connection and the affair ofcharging;

FIG. 5 is an illustration showing an example of the key-lamp panel 6Bprovided on the telephone terminal device shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are flowcharts explaining the operation of automaticdialling;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are flowcharts explaining the operation for displayingthe calling person's name on the called telephone instrument; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the connection between the privateexchange and the mail system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The first practical embodiment of the present invention dealing with theclass of service and charging in connecting a private telephone systemto the trunk will be described. The telephone terminal device 1 shown inFIG. 1 includes a handset 2, a push-button dial 3, a magnetic cardreader 5 for reading a portable memory device 4 in the form of amagnetic card, key-lamp panels 6A, 6B and a display panel 7. Theportable memory device 4 has a record of bearer's identification number,and the record is read by the telephone terminal device 1 when the card4 is inserted in its magnetic card reader 5.

FIG. 2 shows in block form the internal arrangement of the telephoneterminal device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows in block form thearrangement of the time division private exchange.

The private telephone exchange, in general, has classes of servicedepending on the allowable range of the direct distance dialling (DDD)area from an extension telephone set. This embodiment is assumed to havefour classes that are prevalent in U.S.A. and Canada as listed in Table1.

                  TABLE 1                                                         ______________________________________                                                         Classes of Service                                           Accessible Area    A     B         C   D                                      ______________________________________                                        Direct outward dialling to                                                                       x     --        --  --                                     all NPA codes area                                                            Direct outward dialling to                                                                       x     x         --  --                                     specified NPA codes area                                                      Direct outward dialling to                                                                       x     x         x   --                                     self NPA codes area                                                           Outside call via   x     x         x   x                                      attendant operator                                                            Intra PBX          x     x         x   x                                      ______________________________________                                         x: allowed --: denied                                                    

As shown in FIG. 2, the telephone terminal device 1 is made up of asection including a telephone network circuit 8, a transmitter 9 and areceiver 10, and another section including a push-button dial 3, amagnetic card reader 5, a key-lamp panels 6A and 6B, a display panel 7,an input/output interface 12, a line interface 13, a memory 14 and acharacter generator 15, all controlled by a controller 11.

In FIG. 3, telephone instruments 1(1) through 1(n) are assumed to have asetup of service class D which enables outside call through an operatorcall and disables direct outward dialling (DOD) to the DDD networks. Theservice class is set as extension data in the memory 109 shown in FIG.3. Each user of the telephone system has an individual magnetic card,which is the portable memory device 4 storing the bearer'sidentification number and the class of service (one of A-D).

The card bearer is assumed to have an identification number "x" and theunlimited service class "A", and that he or she intends to make a trunkcall using a telephone instrument 1(1). If the calling person x makes atrunk call without setting the portable memory device 4 of the magneticcard type in the card reader 5 of the telephone instrument 1, i.e.,simply dialling "9", the common procedure of the private exchange willtake place, but in this case service class D is set to this telephoneinstrument as mentioned above, and a DOD call which is detected from thedialling of "9" is disabled. The disabled connection is indicated to thecalling person by an audible signal such as a busy tone, or a voicemessage is issued through a talkie unit. Namely, unless the magneticcard forming the portable memory device 4 is set in the telephoneinstrument, any DOD calling is disabled, whereby an illegal trunk callcan be prevented.

The following describes with reference to the flowcharts in FIGS. 4A and4B the case of calling by the person x using the telephone instrument1(1) with the portable memory device 4. First, the person x inserts theportable memory device 4 in the form of a magnetic card in the cardreader 5 shown in FIG. 1 (FIG. 4A, step 401). The magnetic card reader 5shown in FIG. 2 reads the identification number "x" and service class"A" on the card, and sends the information as an electrical signal tothe input/output interface 12. The programmed controller 11 receives theidentification number "x" and service class "A" from the input/outputinterface 12 and stores x and A as user's information for that telephoneinstrument in the memory 14 (FIG. 4A, step 402). The magnetic cardreader 5 is capable of detecting the presence of a magnetic card in it,and the stored information is held while the card is placed in the cardreader.

Next, the person x lifts the handset, and it is detected by thecontroller 11 in FIG. 2 through a circuit not shown, and this callinginformation is transferred through the line interface 13 to the exchange(FIG. 4A, step 403). The telephone instrument 1 is assumed to link tothe exchange 100 in FIG. 3 through two pairs of cable including a speechline V and a data transmission line D, and such portions as a powersupply circuit which do not directly concern the present invention areeliminated from the drawing.

In FIG. 3, the calling information sent from the telephone instrument1(1) over the data transmission line D is received by a centralcontroller 108 through a signal receiver-distributor 107 and telephoneinterface 102, and the control is conducted by the program stored in thememory 109. Then, a dial tone is generated by a circuit not shown, andconducted to the telephone interface 102. The dial tone is sent over thespeech line V to the calling telephone terminal device 1(1), so that thecalling person is prompted to dial (FIG. 4A, step 404). When the callingperson dials the first digit, it is received by the controller 11through the input/output interface 12 in FIG. 2 (FIG. 4A, step 405), andthe dialed digit is determined by the program stored in the memory 14 asto whether or not it is the DOD access number "9" (FIG. 4A, step 406).If the number is found to be "9", the caller's service class which hasbeen stored in the memory 14 is read to check whether the calling personis permitted to establish a DOD connection (FIG. 4A, step 407), and insuch a case as this example where service class A is given, theinformation including the first-digit number "9", identification number"x" and service class "A" is transmitted to the exchange 100 over thesame path as used for sending the calling information (FIG. 4A, step408). Upon receiving the information "9", "x" and "A" (FIG. 4B, step409), the central controller 108 verifies the service class for thevalidity of connection (FIG. 4B, step 410), and in this case with theunlimited service class of "A" given to the calling person, thetelephone instrument 1(1) is immediately connected to the trunk (FIG.4B, step 414).

Namely, the central controller 108 selects a vacant time slot on theincoming highway 104 to connect the calling telephone interface 102(1),while at the same time selects a vacant trunk interface 103(1) and avacant time slot on the outgoing highway 105 so as to establish theconnection between the lines, and connects both time slots of theselected incoming and outgoing highways 104 and 105 at the time switch106. Similarly, connection is made from the telephone interface 102(1)to the outgoing highway 105, to the time switch 106, to the incominghighway 104, and to the trunk interface 103(1), so that a bidirectionalspeech path is established.

If the calling person dials "9" without using the magnetic card, i.e.,in a status of service class D, it is ignored. When the calling personhas a service class of B or C instead of A, the decision step 410 inFIG. 4B is negated, and a test is conducted as to whether or not thefirst dialling matches the service class B or C (FIG. 4B, step 411). Ifthe test result is negative, a busy tone is sent to the callingtelephone instrument (FIG. 4B, step 412), or otherwise a pseudo dialtone is issued prompting the calling person to dial the next digit so asto verify the second dialling. When the calling person x dials thesecond digit, i.e., the first digit to the trunk, it is received (FIG.4B, step 413) and transmission of the pseudo dial tone is stopped whilethe validity of the service class is verified. Subsequently, the thirddigit, i.e., the second digit to the trunk, is received, and the serviceclass verification is conducted in the same way (FIG. 4B, step 410).

Table 2 shows the formats of the trunk and local telephone number systemused in the U.S.A.

                  TABLE 2                                                         ______________________________________                                                  1   2      3     4   5   6   7   8   9   10                         ______________________________________                                        Trunk telephone                                                                           N     0/1    X   N   N   X   X   X   X   X                        number                                                                        Local telephone                                                                           N     N      X   X   X   X   X                                    number                                                                        ______________________________________                                    

where N takes one of 2 though 9, and X takes one of 0 through 9.

Accordingly if the third digit is a number other than "0" and "1", thetelephone instrument is immediately connected to the trunk (FIG. 4B,step 414), or if the third digit is "0" or "1" with a caller's serviceclass of C, the test result of step 411 is affirmative, causing theprocess to go to step 412 for the transmission of a busy tone to thecalling telephone instrument. When the third digit is "0" or "1" with aservice class of B, the validity cannot be determined by the step 411 inFIG. 4B, and the verification is conducted following the reception of asubsequent digit (FIG. 4B, steps 413 and 410), and the operation isrepeated until the final decision is made.

After the telephone instrument is connected to the trunk following theallowance of a connection, the second and later digits dialed by thecalling person are regenerated and transmitted to the trunk (FIG. 4B,step 415). When the called person takes a response and an answer signalcomes in through the trunk, the central controller 108 receives itthrough the trunk interface 103 and signal receiver-distributor 107(FIG. 4B, step 416), and a speech communication is established betweenthe calling person and the called person (FIG. 4B, step 417). Theexchange 100 increases the message account for the identification number"x" in the charging memory (FIG. 4B, step 418).

As described above, whereas conventionally the service class whichshould be atributive to the individual person is fixed to the telephoneinstrument, resulting in the inconvenience that a person allowed to makea trunk call cannot do so using a telephone instrument classified "C",or a person not permitted to make a trunk call is unrestrained to callanywhere using a telephone instrument classified "A", the presentinvention solves this problem through the use of identification cardsheld by individual persons so that the service class of each telephoneinstrument can be changed depending on the personal informationmemorized on the card.

In many cases, the telephone fee is administered independently in eachdepartment of an enterprise. In the conventional charging system where atoll is charged to each telephone instrument, a call made by a personusing a telephone instrument owned by another department is charged asif a person in that department has made that call, posing a problem thatthe amount of the fee does not always reflect reality. According to thepresent invention, tolls are charged not to each telephone instrument,but to each identification card, i.e., individual user, and the aboveproblem is solved.

Although in the foregoing embodiment an attempt of calf without use ofthe identification card is given service class D, the class may be setarbitrarily.

The service class itself is not limited to the connection to the trunk.For example, a class capable of breaking in on an already establishedconnection, as called "executive override" can also be applicable.Although the above embodiment has been described as an example for theprivate exchange, the present invention is also applicable to the publiccommunication network. For example, when a variety of services such asthe connection to the international network and the connection between atelephone network and a data transmission network become accessible onthe basis of the service contract, the user can benefit from theseservices using any telephone instrument or terminal device byintroduction of the card system.

Since the calling person is identified, the toll can be added to one'sown account by transferring the charging information to the exchangeoffice to which the calling person belongs. This can readily bepracticed when CCIS (Common Channel Interoffice Signaling) systemprevails domestically. For example, when the inventive card chargingsystem is applied to public telephone units, the user can make a callfor unlimited length without using coins, and can pay for the totalamount of fee by the monthly issued bill. The system will particularlybe useful for a business call.

Although in the foregoing embodiment the portable memory device has arecord of the identification number and service class, only a record ofthe identification number may be provided on the card in the case of asmall service area such as within the private exchange which can easilyfind the service class by making reference to a table in the memorydevice, thereby to offer the same quality of service. However, for anationwide system, such as a nationwide telephone network, it is tooawkward to make an inquiry of the service class table registered in thespecific local exchange office, and it will be more effective to storethe service class on the identification card.

Next, the second practical embodiment of this invention applied to anautomatic dialling system will be described using the key-lamp panellayout diagram shown in FIG. 5 and the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 6A and6B. Each lamp section of the key-lamp panel 6B shown in FIG. 1 is madeup, for example, of a dot-matrix display device as shown by 61 in FIG. 5associated with a key switch 62. The portable memory device 4 in theform of a magnetic card storing the identification number is inserted inthe card reader 5 shown in FIG. 1 (FIG. 6A, step 601). The card reader 5in FIG. 2 reads the record on the magnetic card, and it is sent throughthe input/output interface 12 to the controller 11 and stored in thememory 14 (FIG. 6A, step 602).

The key-lamp panel 6B shown in FIG. 5 is a multi-purpose keyboard whosefunction is controlled by software, and to make a key-entry forautomatic dialling, one of keys on the key-lamp panel 6A in FIG. 1 isspecified in advance as an AUTO-DIAL key. Thus, the AUTO-DIAL key ispressed (FIG. 6A, step 603). The controller 11 (FIG. 2) detects thekey-entry through the input/output interface 12, and reads out theidentification number stored in the memory 14, and transfers it togetherwith the information on the entry of the AUTO-DIAL key through the lineinterface 13 to the exchange 100 (FIG. 6A, step 604). Upon receiving theidentification number through the telephone interface 102 and signalreceiver-distributor 107, the central controller 108 reads out theauto-dial information for that identification number, i.e., the keynumber vs. person's name table, in the auto-dial table in the memory 109(FIG. 6A, step 605), and sends it back to the telephone instrument onthe same route as for receiving the identification number (FIG. 6A, step606). Upon receiving the key number vs. person's name table from theline interface 13, the controller 11 in FIG. 2 transforms the name codeinto character information using the dot patterned character generator15 (FIG. 6A, step 607), and displays it on the character display devices61 on the key-lamp panel 6B in correspondence to the keys (FIG. 6B, step608). The calling person views the person's names displayed on thekey-lamp panel 6B, and presses a key 62 (FIG. 5) corresponding to thedesired person's name (FIG. 6B, step 609). The controller 11 detects thekey number of the pressed auto-dial calling key 62, and transfers theidentification number which has been stored in the memory 14 and theauto-dial calling key number to the exchange 100 (FIG. 6B, step 610). InFIG. 3, the central controller 108 makes reference to the auto-dialtable in the memory 109 so as to identify the desired telephone numbercorresponding to the identification number and key number (FIG. 6B, step611), and makes a connection to the called telephone instrument of thatnumber (FIG. 6B, step 612).

In this embodiment, the exchange has a conversion table for automaticdialling and the portable memory device stores only the identificationnumber, and therefore the key and called person relationship forautomatic dialling can readily be changed even if the memory device ismade in the form of a punched card instead of a magnetic card. However,in the case of a nation-wide public communication network, it isnecessary to read out the automatic dialling conversion table registeredin the specific local exchange, and therefore the provision of amagnetic card with the automatic dialling conversion table memorizedthereon is more practical.

Namely, the magnetic card has stored therein personal data, such as arecord of the key numbers for automatic dialling, the called persons'names and their telephone numbers. The telephone terminal device readsout this information and displays the names on the display devicescorresponding to the key numbers, and when a key is pressed, thetelephone instrument transmits the corresponding telephone number overthe line. In this case, since the communication network is not directlyinvolved in the automatic dialling system, the automatic diallingservice for individual persons is made possible through the installationof terminal devices of this function.

When the system is applied to a nationwide public communication network,the magnetic card is provided with a record of all-digit numberincluding NPA code, and the communication terminal device stores the NPAcode in which it belongs, so that when the NPA code read out on themagnetic card coincides with the NPA code stored in the device, the NPAcode should be skipped.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 5 has 20 keys for automatic dialling and upto 20 persons can be registered. In order to register more than 20persons, one of the keys on the key-lamp panel 6A in FIG. 1 is used toadvance the page of the table in the memory, so that another 20 personscan be selected by pressing this key, and thus the number of personsregistered is independent of the terminal device hardware, but solelydependent on the memory capacity of the magnetic card.

Although the use of a magnetic card for the portable memory device hasbeen described, other forms of memory device such as an electronicmemory card incorporating an IC memory, optical memory card, andcomposite pocket calculator prevalent by the name of "data bank" or"electronic memo" may be used.

Although in the second practical embodiment each automatic dialling keyis combined with a character display device, the same purpose isachieved by an orderly arrangement of the keys on the automatic diallingdevice and person's name labelled on the card correspondingly.

The arrangement for abbreviated dialling in place of automatic diallingis merely the replacement of the automatic dialling keys with diallingof several digits, and the above embodiment can directly be used.

Next, the third practical embodiment of the invention will be describedwith reference to the flowchart shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. By using theinventive personal information card, the calling person's name can bedisplayed on the called telephone instrument. Displaying the callingtelephone number on the called telephone instrument in advance of makingresponse has been practiced experimentally or for a limited purpose.However, the calling telephone number does not necessarily identify thecalling person. This system is effective when used in a hotel, whereeach telephone instrument is given a number equal to its room number, sothat the calling room is indicated. However, this function is not veryvaluable when used in an office where not all of the members have theirown telephone instruments, and where people frequently walk from oneplace to another and do not always make a call from one's own telephoneinstrument, and therefore the effectiveness of the system is not as highas expected.

By using the inventive personal information card constituting a portablememory device which is always set in a telephone instrument when makinga call, the exchange reads the identification number on the magneticcard, whichever telephone instrument is used, and can readily displaythe identification number or person's name on the called telephoneinstrument.

In this practical embodiment, all members of the office carry a magneticcard having a record of their individual identification number (e.g.,membership number). This card can be at the same time the membershipcertificate. The telephone instrument 1 is provided with a magnetic cardreader as shown in FIG. 1. The calling person inserts the portablememory device 4 in the magnetic card reader 5 (FIG. 7A, step 701), andlifts the handset 2. The controller 11 shown in FIG. 2 detects the callorigination, i.e., the lift of the handset 2, by a circuit not shown(FIG. 7A, step 702), and operates on the magnetic card reader 5 to readthe identification number recorded on the card (FIG. 7A, step 703). Theidentification number read by the card reader 5 is transferred throughthe input/output interface 12 to the controller 11, which in turntransmits the information of call origination together with the callingperson's identification number to the exchange 100 via the lineinterface 13 in accordance with the program stored in the memory 14(FIG. 7A, step 704).

The magnetic card reader 5 has a card detector 5' to detect the presenceof a card, and if no card is inserted in the card reader, it transmits acode indicating the absence of a card to the exchange. In the exchange100, the central controller 108 shown in FIG. 3 receives these signalsthrough the telephone interface 102 and signal receiver-distributor 107,and transmits a dial tone to the calling party by taking the dial toneconnection (FIG. 7A, step 705). On the other hand, the centralcontroller 108 converts the received identification number into thecalling person's name by making reference to a conversion table storedin the memory 109 (FIG. 7A, step 706), and stores it temporarily in thememory 109. When the code representing the absence of a card isreceived, the process for displaying the calling person's name does nottake place, but only the usual speech path connection takes place.

The calling person hears the dial tone and dials the number of thecalled party. The dialled number is relayed by the telephone instrument1 and transmitted to the central controller 108 in the exchange 100 viathe same route as for transmitting the calling information andidentification number (FIG. 7A, step 707). The central controller 108selects a vacant speech path between the calling party and called party(FIG. 7A, step 708), and reserves the speech path. Subsequently, aringing tone is transmitted to the calling telephone instrument and aringing signal is transmitted to the called telephone instrument (FIG.7A, step 709).

At a time point when the telephone instrument to be called is determined(or, alternatively, when the speech path is selected and the ringingsignal is transmitted), the central controller 108 reads out the callingperson's name from the memory 109, and transfers it in the form ofcharacter code through the signal receiver-distributor 107 and telephoneinterface 102 to the called telephone instrument (FIG. 7B, step 710).

Upon receiving the character code of the calling person's name throughthe line interface 13, the controller 11 of the called telephoneinstruments 1 converts the character code into dot patterns using thecharacter generator 15 (FIG. 7B, step 711) and transfers it through theinput/output interface 12 to the display panel 7. The display panel 7memorizes the dot patterns of the caller's name and displays it ascharacters (FIG. 7B, step 712). Accordingly, the called telephoneinstrument has a display of the calling person's name when it is ringed,allowing the called person to know the caller before taking a response.

Although in the above embodiment the magnetic card has a record of theidentification number, the bearer's name may be recorded instead in acoded form, and in this case the conversion process in step 706 of FIG.7A becomes unnecessary. Using an advanced speech synthesizing techniqueinvolving a speech synthesizer 110, as seen in FIG. 3, it is alsopossible to transform the calling person's name into a vocal message inthe exchange 100 so that the called person is notified of the caller'sname in a audible manner using a speaker built in the telephoneinstrument or a separate speaker.

Next, the fourth practical embodiment of the invention will be describedwith reference to FIG. 8 showing the system in which a private exchangeis connected with a mail system. Recently, a variety of mail servicessuch as electronic mail and vocal mail have been put into practice, andthe present invention is also effective in this field. In the known mailsystem, a mail box, i.e., a memory, is provided corresponding to eachtelephone instrument (the memory may be a part of the system commonmemory), and a mail addressed to a telephone instrument is stored in thememory, which is accessed by the telephone instrument through theoperation. For the confidential security of communication, the mail boxis generally unlocked by a pass word and the like.

By application of the present invention to the mail system, the mailboxes can be provided in correspondence to individual persons, insteadof telephone instruments, allowing each person to make access to one'smail box using an arbitrary telephone instrument. Each person bears amagnetic card with a record of the personal identification number,preferably in a cryptographic code for the purpose of confidentialsecurity.

In FIG. 8, the portable memory device 4 in the form of a magnetic cardis inserted in the magnetic card reader 5 so that the identificationnumber recorded on the card is read and transmitted to the centralcontroller 108 in the exchange 100, as in the case of the thirdpractical embodiment. When the calling person takes a mail read-outaction through a button or dial, the central controller 108 connects thecalling telephone instrument to a vacant mail trunk 110 through theconnecting network 113 so as to establish the connection to a mail box212 corresponding to the caller's identification number, and at the sametime the caller's identification number is transferred to the controller211 in the mail system 200. Thereafter, the mail service of the knownmethod proceeds within the mail system 200. For the mail service, thetelephone instrument 1 includes a display unit when necessary.

Although in the above embodiment the mail service is offered througharbitrary telephone instruments, it is also possible to restrict themail read-out capability to specified telephone instruments. Namely, thecentral controller 108, which deals with the positional information ofthe calling telephone instrument 1 on the exchange 100 for makingconnection, can correlate the telephone instrument with the caller'sidentification number so as to determine whether the telephoneinstrument is permitted to make connection with the mail system.Accordingly, through the registration of telephone instruments allowedfor mail read-out, the mail read-out service can be conductedselectively by correlating the positional information with the caller'sidentification number. In addition to the mail service through anarbitrary telephone instrument using a magnetic card, it is alsopossible to register one's own telephone instrument so that it iseffective for the service without use of the card.

Although the fourth practical embodiment employs the magnetic cardsystem, any type of portable memory device may be used, and thecommunication service is not limited to a telephone system, but thepresent invention is also applicable to data communication, andtherefore the telephone instrument described above can be expanded togeneral communication terminal devices. Although in the above practicalembodiment the personal identification number is recorded on theportable memory device, the record may be any personal data, and theservicing process may be carried out either in the communicationterminal device or in the central controller, without affecting theessence of the present invention.

Moreover, when a communication terminal device capable of intelligentprocessing through a custom-made program is available, the user can callthe program to an arbitrary terminal device using a pass word recordedon one's portable memory device, whereby the user can use the terminalas if it is one's own terminal.

As mentioned previously, the conventional service belongs to thecommunication terminal device, and not to the individual user.Therefore, any person can access a sophisticated communication serviceby using a communication terminal device which is granted for thatservice, while on the other hand a person eligible for accessing asophisticated communication service cannot have a service through aterminal which is not granted.

According to the present invention, as described in the foregoing fourtypical embodiments, a portable memory device with a record of personalinformation is prepared and held by each person eligible for a specificcommunication service, who sets the device on an unspecifiedcommunication terminal device, which reads the personal informationrecorded on the portable memory device and enables a person-orientedcommunication service. Whereas the conventional communication servicebelongs to the terminal device, the present invention enablescommunication services which belong to the individual person, and theeffectiveness of the invention is unlimited.

According to the present invention, in contrast to the conventionalautomatic dialling or abbreviated dialling in which calling keys orabbreviated numbers are made correspondence fixedly to called telephonenumbers, personal information is recorded on the portable memory devicewhich is carried by each person, whereby the automatic dialling serviceand abbreviated dialling service can be offered in such a useful manneras if the person carries one's own automatic dialling device ortelephone instrument.

In addition, the inventive system allows the called person to know thecaller's name, not the calling telephone number, whichever telephoneinstrument is used by the calling person, thereby providing the right ofchoice of response for the called person, whereby the efficiency ofoffice work can be improved.

I claim:
 1. A personal-servicing communication system comprising aplurality of communication terminal devices and a portable memory devicefor memorizing personal data to control said communication terminaldevices, wherein, each of said plurality of communication terminaldevices comprises:at least one multi-purpose keyboard having keys whosefunctions are controlled by software; indication means positioned nearthe keys of said multi-purpose keyboard for indicating respectivecharacter code information for respective keys; means for reading outsaid personal data from said portable memory device; memory means forstoring personal data read out from said portable memory device; andmeans, responsive to said personal data stored in said memory means, forsetting keys of said multi-purpose keyboard to a condition for effectinga communication connection specific to said personal data under softwarecontrol and for controlling said indication means to indicate respectivecharacter code information for respective keys related to a respectivecommunication connection condition for which the respective keys areset.
 2. A personal-servicing communication system according to claim 1,wherein said communication function to which said multi-purpose keyboardis set is an auto-dial function, and said character code informationindicated by said indication means consists of called partyidentifications specified by said personal data.
 3. A personal-servicingcommunication system according to claim 1, wherein said indication meansis incorporated into said multi-purpose keyboard and includes aplurality of display devices for indicating character code informationfor respective keys of the keyboard.
 4. A personal-servicingcommunication system according to claim 3, wherein said communicationfunction to which said multi-purpose keyboard is set is an auto-dialfunction, and said character code information indicated by saidindication means consists of called party identifications specified bysaid personal data.
 5. A personal-servicing communication systemcomprising a plurality of communication terminal devices and a portablememory device for memorizing personal data to control said communicationterminal devices, wherein each of said plurality of communicationterminal devices comprises:at least one multi-purpose keyboard havingkeys whose functions are controlled by software; indication means forindicating respective character code information for respective keys;means for reading out said personal data from said portable memorydevice; memory means for storing personal data read out from saidportable memory device; and means, responsive to said personal datastored in said memory means, for setting keys of said multi-purposekeyboard to a condition for effecting automatic dialing based on saidpersonal data under software control and for controlling said indicationmeans to indicate respective character code information to identify acalled party for respective keys related to said automatic dialing forwhich the respective keys are set.
 6. A personal-servicing communicationsystem according to claim 5, wherein said indication means comprises aplurality of display devices, each disposed adjacent to a respectivekey, for displaying character code information.